The Covishield coronavirus vaccine was developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford (file)
New Delhi:
The Oxford coronavirus vaccine “will protect 95 percent of patients” and is “as effective as the Pfizer and Moderna alternatives,” AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot told Britain’s The Sunday Times, adding that the Scientists had discovered a “winning formula.” to be effective with everyone else. “
However, AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant, has yet to release data to confirm these claims. Interim results from Phase III trials published last month showed an efficacy rate of 70 percent as the average of two dosage regimens. One of these regimens, half a dose followed by a full dose, showed 90 percent efficacy, while Pfizer’s data showed 95 percent and Moderna’s 94.5 percent.
Soriot also said the vaccine, which is likely to be approved this week by the British health regulator, “should be” effective against an aggressive mutant strain of the virus first detected in London and south-east England in September.
The Oxford vaccine, which will be mass-produced in India by the Pune-based Serum Institute, is one of three drugs the Indian government is considering for emergency use authorization. The other two are those developed by Pfizer (which has already been established in the United Kingdom, the United States and several European countries) and Covaxin from Bharat Biotech.
On Saturday, sources told the PTI news agency that the DCGI (Comptroller General of Drugs of India) was waiting for the British drug regulator to approve the Oxford vaccine.
Given that Pfizer has not yet submitted its data and Bharat Biotech has yet to complete Phase III trials, it is likely, the sources added, that the drug AstraZeneca-Oxford will become the first Covid vaccine to be used in India. It also outperforms its rivals on at least two critical aspects: ease of storage and cost.
While the Pfizer vaccine should be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius and the Modern variant at minus 20 degrees Celsius, the Oxford vaccine can be kept at normal refrigerator temperatures of two to eight degrees Celsius. The difference could be crucial for a country as large as India.
The Oxford vaccine is also expected to be cheaper than the Pfizer and Moderna options; it is likely to cost $ 2.5 per dose versus $ 20 for Pfizer and $ 25 for Moderna. All three require a two-dose regimen.
The Indian government has started preparing for a nationwide launch of the vaccine to be licensed first. During Monday and Tuesday, four states (Punjab, Gujarat, Assam and Andhra Pradesh) will participate in the testing of the vaccination process.
India expects to start vaccination “in any week” in January, said Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan. As of Sunday morning, the country reported 2.79 lakh of active Covid cases. The total number of cases since the pandemic began in December last year is around 1.02 million rupees.
With input from PTI
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